PAN cards often become pain cards. Particularly now that the Income Tax Department insists on the landlord’s PAN for an annual rent above Rs 100,000 and many landlords are not very forthcoming in sharing their PAN for the fear of paying taxes. And there are some landlords who are willing to share their PAN but not copies of their PAN cards fearing misuse (and they are right in doing so). But our not-so-enlightened accounts/HR departments will insist on a copy of the landlord’s PAN card arguing how would they otherwise verify the authenticity of the number mentioned.

The National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) has an online PAN verification service but the charges are exorbitant. But that shouldn’t be any deterrent.

If you or your employer needs to verify any number quoted as a PAN or find an individual’s PAN based on his name and date of birth, the Income Tax Department’s websites has easy utilities that let you check for free any PAN.

To find the name of an individual/company (and jurisdictional assessing officer) associated with a PAN number click here.

To know the PAN based on name and date of birth/incorporation of an individual/company click here.